If they did not destroy them, the land would vomit them out just as it had vomited out the Canaanites (Num. Idolatry. No worldly government can exist unless it uses every necessary means to punish law breaking. Maybe this was just an example of Ancient Near Eastern military language.{11}. 5. in Christian Thought (theology/philosophy of religion) from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a Master of Humanities (emphasis in philosophy) from the University of Dallas. The full text of this article in PDF format can be obtained by clicking here. Why did some rules from the Old Testament cease to exist? Israel received direct word from God that they should do this. At first, the Israelites tried to compromise and worship God the way the Canaanites worshiped their gods. Genocide doesn't wait for people to have a change of heart; and certainly not 400 years. 4. Every forecast of prophecy of doom came with an implied unless attached to it: If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. Looking a four outcomes of the resurrection, Dr. Zukeran shows us that the greatest defense of the deity of Jesus was made by Jesus Himself. So theeremlaws still apply, but in a spiritual sense rather than a physical sense. Before joining Probe Ministries, Rick worked in the ship repair industry in Norfolk, VA. 2:34; 3:3, 6). Para ms informacin o para http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/, Overcoming the Enemy of Education: A Review of Pete Hegseth with David Goodwin, Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation., Who Was Adam? He blogs at Allkirk Network. Canaanite religion, like that of all of the ANE, was a fertility religion that involved temple sex. Paul Copan, Is Yahweh a Moral Monster?, Philosophia Christi 10, no. However, if we take the Bible on its own terms, we will recognize that all humans are born guilty and corrupt. When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. The Bible is explicit concerning the sins of the Canaanites: idolatry, incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality. It was merciful for God to allow the Canaanites to remain in the land as long as they did. This was Gods judgment carried out on the people of Canaan using the chosen people of Israel. He can give and take life as He chooses. Further, in Deuteronomy 20, Moses said they were only to kill the adult males in far away cities (vv. They are insisting that God and Christianity are in fact poisonous and must diligently be resisted and defeated. / He lies with her seventy times seven / Mounts eighty times eight / [She conceiv]es and bears a boy.20. First, the Lord's command to enact erem was preceded by a long period of divine patience and longsuffering in the face of Canaanite wickedness (gross forms of idolatry, immorality, and injustice, including the sacrifice of children). But what about Deuteronomy 24:16 which says that children shall not be put to death because of their fathers sins? Ironically, the unbelievers moral criticisms presuppose a transcendent source of morality. 1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! 7:22). The category scholars use for such events as the battles in the conquest of Canaan is Yahweh war. William Lane Craig reminds us God is not subject to our judgment of His actions; He has no moral obligations except to Himself. According to the Bible, the Canaanites were so vile that the very land spued them out (Lev. They are dated to somewhere between 2000 and 1500 BC, between the time of Abraham and the Exodus.{7}. Probe fulfills this mission through our Mind Games conferences for youth and adults, our 3-minute daily radio program, and our extensive Web site at www.probe.org. When a community sins, there are consequences for every member of the population, even children. M.G. 1 (2008): 7-37; www.epsociety.org/library/articles.asp?pid=45. In other words, we now wage war in prayer and in the realm of ideas. He looks at all things from a infinite perspective than man can. They were corrupt and depraved to the core. Probe Ministries is a non-profit ministry whose mission is to assist the church in renewing the minds of believers with a Christian worldview and to equip the church to engage the world for Christ. Scholar Glen Miller points out that dispossession words are used by a three-to-one margin over destruction words.{12}. That atheists are incapable of judging spiritual matters leads some Christians to wonder why we even need to answer them at all, especially if they lack any objective, moral, or epistemological foundation for their claims. Glenn M. Miller, How could a God of Love order the massacre/annihilation of the Canaanites? on the web site A Christian Thinktank, Later Lots own daughters get him drunk to have sex with him and so even Dawkins, in a surprising moment of moral clarity, writes, If this dysfunctional family was the best Sodom had to offer by way of morals, some might begin to feel a certain sympathy with God and his judicial brimstone.28. He sent Moses to Pharaoh, and gave him 9 chances to repent. Why didnt God just tell Israel; move in, settle down and coexist? Also, this wasnt the entire destruction of a race as God didnt order that every Canaanite be killed but only those who lived within specific geographical boundaries (Josh. God waited to redeem humankind until they had the chance to be, as 2 Live Crew once put it, as nasty as they wanna be.. But God has no such prohibition. But we must keep in mind that God is not subject to our contemporary sensibilities. For God does not show favoritism. In a recent debate with William Lane Craig, Hitchens exhorted the Christians in the audience, Emancipate yourself from the idea of a celestial dictatorship and youve taken the first step toward becoming free.32, Although Dawkins nowhere endorses sex with animals, he does endorse Princeton atheist and ethicist Peter Singer as an eloquent advocate for our need to become postspeciesist.33 According to Singer, to claim that one species is better than another is to invoke grave implications because, after all, We are animals.This does not make sex across the species barrier normal, or natural, whatever those much-misused words may mean, but it does imply that it ceases to be an offence to our status and dignity as human beings.34. Christians today are engaged in warfare on this level. In the Hebrew Bible, the Canaanites are described as inhabitants of Canaan before the arrival of the Israelites (e.g., Genesis 15:18-21, Exodus 13:11). If you feel an answer is not 100% Bible based, then leave a comment, and we'll be sure to review it. Plano TX 75075 God promised Canaan to Abraham and his children. This document is the sole property of Probe Ministries. In regard to the Canaanites, God commanded, "In the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Gods first inclination is to save Canaan rather than destroy it. God gave us life, and He has the right to take it away. Revelation 2:21-23. (3) Therefore, Christians should condemn Yahweh for commanding genocide. If Jesus had died to redeem humankind prior to humankinds comprehending the depth of their sin, then people would question the need for Jesus death. God promised Abraham (Genesis 15), that his seed would inherit the land of Canaan. ", Jesus Resurrection: Fact or Fiction? In Ezekiel 18:23 we read, Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (see also Ezek. Second, if the Canaanite children were allowed to live and remain in the land, they could very well act to avenge their parents when they grew up, or at least to pick up again the practices of their parents. He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Then, in AD 70, forty years after Jesus was crucified, the Roman emperor Titus destroyed Jerusalem. Nevertheless, those that choose to reject Gods love will be lost (2 Peter 3:7). Presumably, the Canaanites could have done the same thing. Speaking with Abraham, God predicted that the Canaanites would eventually become so evil that He 6:23), and ultimately every unrepentant sinner will have to face Gods judgment. They are all part of an inherently wicked culture that, if allowed to live, would morally and theologically pollute the people of Israel.[1]. In phase four there was a major change. This was Gods judgment carried out on the people of Canaan using the chosen people of Israel. Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, Article II, University of the West of England, at: www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/. The Canaanites are identified in Genesis as descendants of Ham, son of Noah. They had male shrine prostitutes (1 Kings 14:22), committed acts of lewdness, adultery, and incest (Jer. After all, the Old Testament unequivocally commands that those who do any one of these things deserves to die. This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 44, number 2 (2021). If we see humans as being basically good or innocent, then of course we will react with indignation to the Bibleseremlaws. Atheists use this fact to condemn the character of God. Can these be put together? Although Abraham was Gods friend and the Lord wanted to give to him the land of Canaan for an inheritance. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, in his " ", posits that one of the reasons that Sodom was not given the chance to repent was that even their children were wicked. it was an act of the judicial holiness of God manifesting itself in righteousness and judgment.{6}. 5:1). He teaches theology at Westminster Academy in Memphis, Tennessee. Of course not. 7.1-2; 20.16-18). And they even sent their own children into the fires of the god Molech as living sacrifices. God knew it would take the destruction of the nations. Tagged as: God was patient with the Canaanites For example, God commanded the Israelites, in Deuteronomy 20:10-15, to offer conditions of peace rather than extermination to all others. When Joshua led the people across the Jordan River into Canaan, he was fulfilling this promise. According to the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), when God called forth his people out of slavery in Egypt and back to the land of their forefathers, he directed them to kill all the Canaanite clans who were living in the land (Deut. The situation with Canaan was different. Based on the Biblical evidence, however, this objection dissolves away for two reasons: 1. 1: The Pentateuch (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.), 484-485. Theeremlaws of the OT were an example of this intrusion. For one thing, the Israelites would intermarry with them, and their spouses would bring their gods into the marriage with all that entailed. God loves each of us as if there were only one of us"- Augustine. Leviticus 27:29 says very plainly that every person devoted to destruction was to be killed. To understand what God was doing in Canaan, one must see it within the larger context of redemptive history. This is an online articlefrom the Christian Research Journal. Yahweh has made it clear that He is willing to relent in His judgment if a nation repents of its sins and changes its ways ( Jer. all, and God plays fair with all peoples at all times, giving them equal chances for repentance and reformation. To answer these questions, we must understand the place of the erem laws in the history of redemption. This article first appeared in the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 33, number 04 (2010). But this sort of response does not fit with Jesuss own view of the Old Testament. And if all children are saved, then a Canaanite child would benefit by being alive in a better place. THE CANAANITES- God's Justness in Perspective It's clear from history, God gave them ample time to repent, but they refused (Gen. 15:16; Deut. God says its going to be a while before you all enter the promised land, because the Canaanites arent beyond saving.. I want to look at some Biblical stories about God destroying nations. In phase three, when Israel and Judah were in exile, God promised to come in the future as a warrior to rescue them from their oppressors (cf. 7). From the Canaanite epic poem The Baal Cycle we learn: Mightiest Baal hears / He makes love with a heifer in the outback / A cow in the field of Deaths Realm. Sue Bohlin processes how she is handling the crisis of tongue cancer by trusting Gods goodness. In his discussion in Moral Monster, Copan refers specifically to Deut. I probably will not answer every question in this short article, and even some of the answers I give will not satisfy everyone, but I do hope to present a solid biblical argument for the goodness, holiness, love, and justice of our Creator God. What about these people prompted such a harsh judgment? Capital Punishment Reason 4 God didnt. If a man has intercourse with a horse or a mule, there is no punishment.18 As with incest, the penalty for having sex with animals decreased about the fourteenth century BC.19, There should be no surprise that bestiality would occur among the Canaanites, since their gods practiced it. the people of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, the entire populace from every end[of the city]. As a result, they eventually received the same judgment the Canaanites experienced ( Deut. Longman goes on to cite OT scholar Meredith Kline, who proposes a theory of intrusion ethics. Scripture tells us that the punishment for all sin is death (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 4:26; 7:4). I consider Jesus the be the perfect example of how to be good, Jesus would never hurt anyone. There are several aspects of Yahweh war. Concerning sexual desire, Dawkins questions why evangelical Christians are so obsessed with private sexual inclinations.30 The apparently not obsessed Christopher Hitchens considers dangerous sexual repression so serious that he calls it one of the four irreducible objections to religious faith.31 Dawkins and Hitchens are not just encouraging a sort of sexual libertarianism per se. The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics helps Christians show unbelievers the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel as the only hope that fulfills our deepest longings. In Genesis 15:16, God told Abraham that his descendants would have to remain slaves in Egypt for 400 years before taking possession of Canaan, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. So God was patient in dealing with the Canaanite nations, waiting until they reached the point of no return. It doesnt stop there. A miracle child heralded by divine announcement, he grows up to become a one-man army against Israel's enemies. (Judges 2:1-3; 1 Kings 11:5; 14:24; 2 Kings 16:3-4). He gave them the law so that they may know Him and His ways. The peoples of the land did not repent, just as the survivors of God's plagues will not repent. A biblical example of this would be Gods treatment of the city of Nineveh. How could the Canaanites have that much influence over the Israelites? {14} The only test we can put to God is consistency with His own nature and word. Israel was not allowed to treat other nations as they treated the Canaanite cities. Curiously, this simply relates back to the entire dialogue of God with Abraham. (LogOut/ Was John the Baptist the only person that understood Christs mission. Just as God had demonstrated his knowledge of who would repent in the Canaanite cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, before he destroyed Jerusalem He told Jeremiah that if He could find even one righteous person He would spare the entire city (Jer. What place should they have in our preaching and practice? 1:5). Yahweh wars are battles recorded in Scripture that are prompted by God for His purposes and won by His power.{4}. The Amorites had a chance to repent and be saved, just as the Assyrians in Nineveh did during in the time of Jonah. 22 Christian Quotes and Sayings About God. Conclusion: What does this tell us about God? Some Christians have responded by driving a wedge between the Old Testament and the New, claiming that Jesuss ethics improved upon the brutal practices of ancient Israel. Humans do not have the right to do whatever we want. God did not order the extermination of these people to be cruel, but to prevent even greater evil from occurring in the . The classic example is Rahab, the prostitute who helped the Israelite spies in Jericho and swore allegiance to the Lord (Jos. Predictably so, their values conflict with what God hates. The completely negative connotations of genocide make it hard to look at the biblical events without a jaundiced eye. An even more detestable practice was that of child sacrifice. wars instituted by and fought with the, My eldest daughter and I have been discussing portions of the Bible with which she is struggling. When Jesus came, He shifted the battle to the spiritual realm; He fought spiritual powers and authorities. Since the land wasnt empty, this could only be accomplished by driving the Canaanites out. Abraham starts bargaining with God. Killing of the Canaanites, Robert Driskell received a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Pastoral Ministries and Biblical Studies from Mid-America Christian University in 1995. 4:58). God Was God just in destroying the Canaanites? Probe VP Steve Cable examines some of the findings of the Probe Survey 2020: The Changing Face of Christianity in America. [Ed. 1. 13. 18:28). The judgment that they foreshadowed was demonstrated decisively on the cross of Christ, who received the full measure of Gods wrath for the sins of his people. Memory,. Lets start with the flood. Later when Israel disobeys God and allows the Canaanites to continue to live among them, the corruptive and seductive power of Canaanite sin results in the Canaanization of Israel. Subsequently, God sent prophets to warn Israel of their coming destruction, but they didnt repent and God said that they became like Sodom to me and He visited destruction on Israel for committing the same sins. The problem with new atheist divine genocide claims is rather simple: God hates sin, but the new atheists do not.35 Consequently, they complain of divine genocide in the face of Canaanite sin! I think God meant it quite literally. God did not just decide to command the Israelites to destroy all the inhabitants of Canaan simply because he promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit it; he commanded them to do it because the Canaanites were wicked, evil, sinful people. Going by this definition alone, the destruction of the Canaanites would seem to have been genocide. Wouldnt even infants, as they grew, begin to ask, What practices did my parents do which resulted in your killing them? As sad as this is, it also points to the horror of sin. The Canaanites had not completely sinned away their day of grace. The peoples of the world at His return will be doing the same things that the Canaanites were doing when God gave it to Israel (Revelation 9:20).